The Asplundh Tree
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Summer 2018 THE ASPLUNDH TREE MERIT THE AWARDS ASPLUNDH splundh is proud to recognize TREE General Foreperson Chris Summer 2018 Reid of the Ron Hallock A CONTENTS Region in Florida with a corporate Silver Merit Award for quickly and effectively Restoring Power To Puerto Rico ..............3 using his CPR skills to help a worker who More Stormy Times .....................................6 collapsed as the Hurricane Irma storm Co-op Corner ..............................................7 response was just getting started last fall. A Long-Standing Connection On September 10, 2017, as Hurricane To Line Construction ...............................8 Irma was pounding the Florida Keys, tree From The Archives ....................................10 and line crews were gathered at a hotel p At the request of Manager Ron Hallock in Management Update ..................................11 staging area for Lee County Electric Florida, Manager Don Redden (L) in eastern Retirees Honored ......................................13 Cooperative in South Florida, waiting for Pennsylvania and Corporate Safety Director In Memoriam ...............................................14 the storm to pass over. Chris was walking Adam Martin (R) presented the Asplundh Orchids ...............................................15 through the parking lot and saw a group of Silver Merit Award pin to General Foreperson Service Anniversaries ................................18 workers standing around a man who was Chris Reid (center) who temporarily unconscious on the ground. transferred with his crews to southeastern Home Office Honors ................................21 Although someone had already called Pennsylvania in February. Chris was recognized Crews & News ............................................22 911, Chris quickly decided to step in to for not hesitating to perform CPR on a worker Supporting TREE Fund Through check the worker’s vital signs. There from another company who passed out and Event Partnerships ...................................25 was a heartbeat, but no breathing. Chris stopped breathing in a hotel parking lot on September 10, 2017 during the Hurricane checked his airway and since it was Irma storm response. ON THE COVER clear, he began chest compressions. By Steep, narrow roads are contrasted by the the time the ambulance arrived several natural beauty of Puerto Rico as an Asplundh minutes later, the victim was regaining worker came back to the hotel to say crew works to help restore power there. See consciousness and beginning to talk. thank you, but Chris was gone on storm story on pgs. 3-6. (photo by Matt Morales) The man, who appeared to be in his response duty. mid-thirties, was an employee of another “I just acted on instinct and training,” MANAGING EDITOR company and was taken to the hospital for says Chris. We are proud of his actions CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS observation and testing. Chris received and how they helped to keep another Patti Chipman word a few days later that the unnamed human being alive. Well done! WRITER/EDITOR Kristin Wild ASSISTANT EDITOR/ GRAPHICS SPECIALIST MARK YOUR CALENDAR! Ronnie Gauker Wall Calendar Photo Entries Due August 17, 2018 The Asplundh TREE is a family magazine, Shoot Out Photo Contest Entries Due October 19, 2018 published three times a year for all employees and friends of the Asplundh companies. You may enter up to 10 of your photos total combined in the Nature and/or Work Asplundh welcomes requests to reprint or Related categories. High-resolution digital images (either e-mailed or on disc) are otherwise duplicate this magazine, in whole acceptable, as well as color or black and white prints. No negatives, please. If your or in part. Please contact the Managing Editor photo is selected for the 2019 wall calendar, you will be sent three complimentary of Corporate Communications at the address copies. Shoot Out winners will receive a VISA gift card, ranging from $75 for below for permission, or call 1-800-248-TREE Honorable Mention to $200 for first place. (in the U.S. or Canada). © Please be sure to include your name, address, phone number and the categories you 2018 Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC wish to enter, along with a brief description of each picture. If you send in prints or a disc, please package them carefully. Entries will not be returned unless you specifically request it. Please e-mail your top-notch entries to: [email protected]. Asplundh Tree Expert, LLC 708 Blair Mill Road or snail mail them to: Asplundh Corporate Communications Willow Grove, PA 19090 708 Blair Mill Road, Willow Grove, PA 19090 www.asplundh.com Thank you! Printed on recycled paper by Bruce Mellott SAFETY SUCCESS Vice President of Corporate Safety IS NO ACCIDENT was on a flight the other week, traveling to speak at an we already use for hiring. Research shows that online training industry-related conference. The flight attendant got on requires more of the learner’s involvement than any other Ithe loud speaker and began the pre-flight safety briefing. training method and has the benefit of learning at one’s After introducing herself, she informed the passengers that own pace. The new module enables us to assign courses in she would be training on today’s flight under the direction of a different subject areas such as safety, project management, trainer who was already an experienced flight attendant. After information technology, supervisory and management skills, and getting airborne, it was time for the trainee to do her thing. communications, just to name a few. Learners will sign into the system using their company login and can access the materials For the next two hours, I watched her struggle, not anytime, day or night. knowing what to do while her “trainer” sat in a seat, filled out paperwork and used her cell phone—generally unaware of We will be using this module to track all safety training in what the trainee was struggling with. The trainee made multiple the future. The application automatically stores a list of all trips up and down the aisle to ask for direction and seemed the training classes an employee has taken throughout their very unsure of what to do when presented with various issues. employment history. Our in-house videos will be stored in this The incident bothered me and I wondered how many times system and we have already arranged with several suppliers to similar situations occur in our industry. put their equipment-specific training materials into the system as well. In addition to tracking completed training sessions, Our employee training program is arguably the BEST in the system will send notifications of when refresher training the utility line clearance tree trimming industry. We employ is coming due or is past due, further helping us manage this multiple forms of instruction including on-the-job training, important piece of our safety program. coaching/mentoring, instructor-led certification sessions, videos, and group discussions to appeal to various learning Look for more information coming out about how to use this styles and different positions within the organization. Despite new training system in the early summer months. this, the weak link is always the trainer. How the learner receives the message makes all the difference in whether one understands the expectation(s) of the position or not. Training Stay Safe, is a HUGE responsibility and the task requires motivated and skillful individuals to be effective. As the leadership principle goes, “There are no bad teams, only bad leaders”, and the same could be said about trainees and trainers. Bruce Mellott Later this year, Asplundh will be introducing online learning [email protected] to all of its operations in North America to further enhance our training platforms. We have purchased the rights to an additional module within the BirdDogHR software application RECOGNITION OF SAFETY PERFORMANCE t The responsibilities of a Regional Safety Superintendent (RSS) are significant on just a routine, day-to-day basis, but when hundreds of employees from other parts of the country come to your region during a major storm response, the duties and risks increase exponentially! Vice President of Corporate Safety Bruce Mellott (far R) was proud to recognize these four RSSs with Asplundh White Cross Awards for their hard work and good safety records during storm responses to Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 and Hurricane Irma in September 2017. The award recipients were (L to R): Glen Ortagus of the Wilmer McWhirter Region in Georgia, Donald Vincent of the Ron Hallock Region in Florida, Richard Gordin of the Allen LeBlanc Region in Texas and Mike Venezia of the Dave Craddock Region in Florida. The awards were presented on March 16 during the 2018 Regional Safety Summit in Tampa, Florida. The Asplundh TREE Summer 2018 1 RECOGNITION OF SAFETY PERFORMANCE CONTINUED t On December 1, 2017, Asplundh t Asplundh Construction Construction Manager Ted Fiala (L) Roving Foreperson Gary Kjaer gave a handshake of appreciation to (L) congratulated Foreperson Journeyman Fitter Aubrey Brown (R) Brandon Bedsworth (R) as he presented him with his region’s after presenting him with Quarterly Safety Award. Aubrey works in the Fiala Region’s Quarterly Asplundh Construction’s gas operations Safety Award on March 23. on the property of Baltimore Gas & Brandon’s safety leadership Electric (BGE) in Maryland. He was in the first quarter of 2018 recognized for his exceptional safety earned him this recognition. leadership and observed safe work Both work in gas operations practices in the third quarter of 2017. on the property of BGE. WITH TRAINING AND PRACTICE u RSS Paul Snethen from the Ed Bradshaw Region in Kansas recently reported that there are more than 130 tree felling trainers in the region and that the regional goal is to have every foreperson go through the class. He explained that the class is more than just teaching the five steps of tree felling. A ‘train the trainer’ class, like this one hosted in the Bradshaw Region, also teaches the participants how to train others using the four step method of telling, showing, trying out and checking/following up.